Observing the Little Things With the Coast Guard

On Friday, I got a phone call from LCDR Tony Russell, the press secretary of Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allan. LCDR Russell allowed me to have a conference call with RADL Mary Landry and the Commandant himself to discuss the new Web 2.0 initiatives the Coast Guard is involved in.

The weekend has turned into a real world nightmare of time consumption, and I have been unable to write up my thoughts. While I intend to do a follow up later this week, have you seen some of the interesting tidbits that have popped up just over the last few days?

First, the Coast Guard appears to have selected a common instant messenger application for service use. Second, the 13th Coast Guard district has set up a blog, and is looking for comments to current discussions.

But what caught my attention was the Bollinger contract award news for the design and construction of a series of Fast Response Cutter (FRC)/Sentinel Class patrol boats. Did you see the Coast Guards official announcement? There is a button at the bottom of the official Coast Guard announcement page for citizens to ask questions, I assume about both the ship and the contract?

Once I get a chance to collect my notes in a more organized way I'll follow up with a post about my conversation with Admiral Allen, but I thought these emerging features was noteworthy enough by themselves to highlight.